1. Field of the Invention
A musical scale selector allows the front digitals of a keyboard to play either the diatonic scale or a six-tone musical scale. A six-tone musical scale can provide the basis for an improved music notation.
2. Description of the Prior Art
The diatonic musical scale, which is the traditional basis for Western music, is a group of seven tones that are related by consonant musical intervals and chords. The other five tones of the twelve-tone scale are expressed as sharps or flats of tones of the diatonic scale. Thus the extraneous tone intermediate to the C and D tones is called C sharp or D flat.
In our traditional music notation the tones of the diatonic scale are represented by notes on five-line staffs supplemented by ledger lines. Here a seven-tone scale has the serious disadvantage that notes which are positioned on lines in one octave are instead positioned on spaces in the adjoining octaves. This changeability of the same notes in different octaves obstructs an intimate depiction of the consonant sounds of music. If a single tone is added to or omitted from the diatonic scale, then the resultant musical scale naturally divides into two discrete parts, one of which is written on lines of the musical staff in all octaves, the other part of the musical scale being written in the spaces of the staff in all octaves. Thus each staff line and each staff space is related by consonant musical intervals and chords to neighboring staff lines and spaces, these relationships being the same in all octaves.
For example, notation can be based on the first six tones of the diatonic scale. In this hexachord notation the consonant tones C-G-C-E-G of the valveless bugle are written entirely on the staff lines or ledger lines, even though they occupy adjoining octaves.
There are other advantages to such a modification of music notation. For example, notation based on a six-tone musical scale can have a system of twelve key signatures which is much easier to learn and to use than the traditional system of key signatures. This simpler system of key signatures can be used to write a musical composition at the pitch at which it sounds its best, it is most easily sung, and is easily played. The full enjoyment of music and the full development of music itself are strongly affected by our system of music notation and its conforming musical keyboard.
Music could be more easily taught, learned, composed, and better performed, if its notation were based on a six-tone or twelve-tone musical scale; however, a changeover to a new system of notation encounters serious difficulties. Music pupils would need to learn an improved music notation from teachers originally trained in the traditional notation. The traditional musical keyboard is well adapted to music notation based on the diatonic scale, but ill adapted to notation based on other musical scales; and a child being trained in keyboard music may need to share his keyboard with parents or siblings accustomed to the traditional notation. Furthermore, even after learning to play music in an alternative notation, a child should still be able to play music that is printed in the traditional notation. Any alternative notation must coexist agreeably with the traditional notation.
Much primitive music, such as the Robert Burns song "Auld Lang Syne," is based on the tonal pentatonic scale, which is a group of five tones that are easily sung and played together. The tones C-D-E-G-A of this scale are closely related by consonant musical intervals and chords. This simpler scale is widely used in the Kodaly and Orff methods of music education. The prolific music composer Irving Berlin always composed on the keyboard in the key of F sharp, which emphasizes the tonal pentatonic scale F sharp - G sharp - A sharp - C sharp - D sharp, which is played by the back digitals of the traditional keyboard. Addition of a sixth tone F to the tonal pentatonic scale C-D-E-G-A produces the hexachord C-D-E-F-G-A, which is the basis of a system of music taught by Guido of Arezzo in the eleventh century. Guido developed our representation of musical tones by symbols on a staff consisting of horizontal lines.
Guido also invented our tonic sol-fa system, using syllables to denote the six degrees of the hexachord. A seventh syllable "si" was added in the sixteenth century to denote the leading tone of the diatonic scale. The diatonic scale C-D-E-F-G-A-B contains within it the two identical hexachords C-D-E-F-G-A and G-A-B-C-D-E, whose keynotes are spaced apart by the musical interval of a fifth. And the hexachord scale C-D-E-F-G-A contains the two identical pentatonic scales F-G-A-C-D and C-D-E-G-A, whose keynotes are spaced apart by a fifth.
So that people accustomed to the traditional notation can confidently play music written in a six-tone notation, and so that people trained in such hexatonic notation can also play music written in the traditional notation, hexatonic notation is preferably written on five-line staffs like the traditional notation. An octave in hexatonic notation occupies only 3 spaces on the musical staff, as compared with 31/2 spaces for the traditional notation. Thus the treble and bass staffs which cover 37 tones in the traditional notation will cover 43 tones in six-tone notation, with the result that fewer ledger lines are needed. An unexpected benefit of the more compact notation is that corresponding staff lines in two adjoining musical staffs notate tones exactly two octaves apart. So the lines and spaces of the bass staff are labeled exactly the same as those in the treble staff, and mental images of the two staffs tend to reinforce each other, rather than conflict.
Our traditional musical keyboard is structured so as to play the seven tone diatonic scale on its front digitals and the other five tones of the twelve tone scale on its back digitals. The notes of written keyboard music are normally interpreted as instructions to play particular digitals of the keyboard. Thus the major mode of the diatonic scale, starting with a C note, is started on a C front digital. The succeeding D, E, F, G, A, B notes of written music are played on the succeeding D, E, F, G, A, B front digitals of the keyboard.
So that keyboard players trained in either the traditional notation or hexatonic notation can easily play music written in the other notation, I have devised apparatus for switching the electrical connections between keyboard digitals and their tone generators, disclosed in U.S. Pat. Nos. 3,986,422, 4,009,633 and 4,640,173. The change between notations is greatly eased by providing automatic key signature actuation for music written in both the traditional notation and the hexatonic notation. A musician trained in one system need not learn the music staff labels of the other system, but can simply play the keyboard digitals according to the positioning of the notes on the musical staffs, thinking of his accustomed staff labels if he wishes, and using his accustomed keyboard landmarks. The apparatus also allows the front digitals to play the whole tone scale, with the back digitals playing an interspersed whole tone scale. This arrangement is most suitable for playing music written in twelve-tone notation, which does not use key signatures. At the present time it appears that twelve tone notation is most suitable for instrumental atonal music, while hexatonic notation is more suitable for instrumental and vocal tonal music. Players of acoustic musical instruments and singers must still contend with key signatures in hexatonic notation, but it turns out that hexatonic key signatures can be learned and used much more easily than the traditional diatonic key signatures.
In modern musical practice it is common to have a keyboard separate from its sound generator, the keyboard transmitting binary coded messages serially on a pair of wires to the sound generator. When a digital of the keyboard is pressed, a number identifying that digital is transmitted to the sound module, where it is used to sound a musical tone of the proper pitch. My U.S. Pat. Nos. 4,903,571 and 4,903,572 disclose translating apparatus whereby such transmission of numbers to a sound generator is altered so as to automatically actuate the sharps or flats in any diatonic key signature of written music. Thus tonal music can be played without regard to the key signature, most notes being played on the front digitals of the keyboard.